East Middle School officials have an internet block party

Commentary
By LAELA ZAIDI
Editor

            Have you ever tried to work on a school project in our computer lab? Your teacher says you need to find movies, and some good links? You search it on Google, find a good link, and try clicking on it. Then, the fateful words come up…”you have been restricted.”

            With our brand new building and brand new technology comes a price. Our school officials have been blocking websites right and left. Of course, the usual social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace, and naughty pages have been blocked. However, it goes deeper than that.

            During the eighth grade third quarter research project in my communication arts class, many kids ran into roadblocks in finding resources. Trying to watch videos from the time period was impossible. Mrs. Thomas, the eighth grade reading teacher, even had a hard time downloading the "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr.

            “I was unable to fulfill my research needs at school because they were blocked for entertainment purposes, when really all they were was educational videos.”  Said Celeste Graves.

            Lots of kids at the school believe on that blocking educational sites can also be a kind of censorship. Just because sites having streaming media, don’t mean that they don’t have educational things that we can use.

            So what’s your opinion on the subject? Whatever it is, at this rate school officials definitely won’t stop their “block” party anytime soon!

"Are You Smarter than a Map Tester" fun event for students, parents

BROOKLYN VICKERS

Staff Writer
The parents of East Middle School students received an introduction to what MAP tests are all about during the school's first ever "Are You Smarter than a Map Tester? last month.

Parents and students were treated to a spaghetti red meal, then parents were shown what the MAP tests were all about, actually taking questions from the ACUITY preparation tests. While they were doing that, middle school students participated in math and communication arts activities in their classrooms, and younger children played games in the gymnasium.

(Photo: Mrs. Clara Ervin, instructional coach, hands out prizes at the conclusion of the activity.)

New principal to meet East Middle School teachers

East Middle School faculty and staff will officially meet new Principal Bud Sexson 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, May 5.

Breakfast will be served.

Mr. Sexson will take over as principal for the 2010-2011 school year. Mr. Ron Mitchell, current principal, is leaving to become principal at Lamar High School.

First-ever EMS Dodgeball Tournament held

By CAYLEY HARDISON
Photographer
The first-ever East Middle School Dodgeball Tournament was held after school Friday, April 23. Information about the winners will be featured in an upcoming post.

Offset Sunset, New Rebel Flag perform at EMS Assembly April 20

By BROOKLYN VICKERS
Staff Writer

Christian rock groups Offset Sunset and New Rebel Flag performed at an assembly in the East Middle School Gymnasium April 20.

"It was fun and they got the audience into it and they talked about real problems that we could all relate to," said eighth grader Mackenzie Shamblin.

New principal hired for East Middle School

The Joplin School District has hired Mr. Bud Sexson as East Middle School principal for the 2010-2011 school year.

The following release was issued by Assistant Superintendent Stephen Doerr:

We are very excited to inform everyone that we have hired James (Bud) Sexson as the new principal at East Middle School.  Bud has 20 years of administrative experience in the Bartlesville Schools.  All of his experience has been at the junior high/middle school level.  He is very knowledgeable of middle school student and has a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills in helping to focus the buildings he has lead on the needs of the kids.  Bud will be coming up during various times between now and the start of school, so if you have the opportunity to meet him please be sure to welcome him to our district and to the community.

Sexson replaces Mr. Ron Mitchell, who will be principal at Lamar High School.

Mitchell to become Lamar High School principal

Mr. Ron Mitchell, principal at East and South middle schools for the past nine years will become principal at Lamar High School for the 2010-2011 school year.

More about Mr. Mitchell's move will be featured later on this website.

Show Choir Auditions held April 21st

By: BROOKLYN VICKERS
STAFF WRITER
Picture this: Music filled up the room. A nervous smile breaks through from the young girl’s face. She quickly pushes away her negative feelings, knowing that this is what she wants. This is her whole high school career, thinks the girl. She opens her mouth, and, oh, this girl’s voice was strong. She started to sing. She smiled then lost herself in the song. Her life is to entertain. She’s here to perform.
The date is April 21. Middle School students blossoming into High School students try out for The Joplin high school’s show choir. There are different types of choir that the people have to try out for. They are: Sound Dimension, Touch of Class, The Choral Concert Choir, and the treble choir. They had to start with a dance. Difficult? Definitely not! Well, for the JEMS anyway. Everyone had to go to a secluded room and sing-NOT ACAPELLA!
There is tension creeping behind kids as they walk from class to class, waiting to find the news of their audition. Good luck girls…and Khristopher Daily!

DodgeballTournament set for Friday

By CAYLEY HARDISON
Staff Writer

The first ever Dodgeball Tournament will be held at East Middle School in the auditorium at 4:30 on Friday and will last until all teams have competed.
There is no admission fee and the concession stand will be open.

Winners announced in EIghth Grade Poetry Contest

Winners in the annual East Middle School Poetry Contest have been selected.

The winners, whose poems will be published in a national book are Dani Wildcox, Janessa Jones, and Meagan Camden. Their poems are printed below:


EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY
By Dani Wilcox

The little girl I knew,
grew up confused and abused.
This innocent child was frequently used.

She had no one to guide her,
and no one to hide her,
causing pain and fear to grow inside her.

She never ran,
and she'd never hide,
she'd just sit there confused inside.

She never told until one night,
he was coming back
and she was filled with fright.

"I should have been there,"
her mother said,
as crazy thoughts filled her head.

But the little girl did not wish him dead
she was confused,
and prayed the news would not spread.

Somehow it did,
and she was protected,
but in several ways she was also rejected.

Rejection confused her,
she did not want to lose her,
her former best friend now thinks she's a loser.

A liar, a slut,
anything but,
the confused little girl she was.

Down the road she took the wrong path,
you do the math,
she took the WRONG path.

She'd use and abuse,
and she tried to refuse
the help that she needed to get.

The help was forced upon her,
and she'd start to wonder
if everything would soon be okay.

A SLAVE TORN
By Meagan Camden

A slave torn and beat,
he could never truly break free.
He is a slave,
a slave who was beat and abused,
a slave who was always used.

It ain't his fault.
He was a slave, torn and beat,
who could never truly break free.

COCKROACH
By Janessa Jones

I went into the kitchen
and turned on the light.
"Hello" came from the cockroach
with kindness and delight.

She said, "Have you seen my children.
I had them them here tonight.
Watch where you step,
you'll give them quite a fright."

I turned around and saw her kids
running the other way.
She said not to leave.
I told her I couldn't stay.